Basin Creek

Site Name

Primary: Basin Creek

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Commodity

Primary: Tungsten
Primary: Gold

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Location

State: Alaska
District: Nome

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Land Status

Not available

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Not available

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant:

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Placer Au-PGE

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Orebody

Not available

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Structure

Not available

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Not available

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Gold
Ore: Hematite
Ore: Ilmenite
Ore: Scheelite

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Comments

Comment (Deposit): Model Name = Alluvial placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Comment (Production): Production Notes = Production until about 1906 was about 1,450 ounces of gold (Moffit, 1913). Total production until 1996 is believed to be less than 20,000 ounces.

Comment (Workings): Workings / Exploration = Extensive placer mine tailings are present along about 1 mile of Basin Creek upstream from the Nome River floodplain. Road construction materials have also been mined from the patented claims in Basin Creek. Mining since about 1960 has been mainly by a bucket line dredge with about 1.5-cubic-foot buckets. This dredge was constructed, and has been operated, by the Engstrom family.

Comment (Reference): Primary Reference = Collier and others, 1908

Comment (Geology): Geologic Description = Gold was discovered on Basin Creek by 1900 (Brooks and others, 1901). At least 1 mile of the creek has been extensively placer mined, much by a small floating dredge. The partly crystalline gold was in a 150-foot-wide paystreak consisting of coarse gravels on bedrock and in crevices in bedrock. From top to bottom, the unconsolidated section included 2 feet of soil, 3 feet of rounded gravel, 12 feet of coarse, angular gravel containing more than 30 percent clasts greater than 10 inches in diameter, clay on bedrock, and 0.5 to 1.5 feet of fractured bedrock (Collier and others, 1908). Heavy mineral concentrates contained ilmenite, hematite, and scheelite. Coats (1944) later reported that the amount of placer scheelite in Basin Creek was negligible. The gold was approximately 900 fine (Purington, 1905). This mine continued to be active, at least for the purposes of tourist visits, at least until the 1970's. Bedrock is mainly marble, probably of Paleozoic protolith age (Hummel, 1962 [MF 247]; Till and Dumoulin, 1994). Bundtzen and others (1994) determined that albite-bearing mafic schist was in thrust contact with the marble about at the head of the paystreak in Basin Creek.

Comment (Deposit): Other Comments = Basin Creek has been one of the most productive creeks on the east side of the Nome River in the Nome district.

Comment (Exploration): Status = Active

Comment (Geology): Age = Quaternary.

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References

Reference (Deposit): Bundtzen, T.K., Reger, R.D., Laird, G.M., Pinney, D.S., Clautice, K.H., Liss, S.A., and Cruse, G.R., 1994, Progress report on the geology and mineral resources of the Nome mining district: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Public Data-File 94-39, 21 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Coats, R.R., 1944, Lode scheelite occurrences of the Nome area: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 17, 6 p.

Reference (Deposit): Brooks, A.H., Richardson, G. B., and Collier, A. J., 1901, Reconnaissance in the Cape Nome and Norton Bay regions, Alaska, in 1900: U.S. Geological Survey Special Publication, p. 1-180.

Reference (Deposit): Purington, C.W., 1905, Methods and costs of gravel and placer mining in Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 263, 273 p.

Reference (Deposit): Collier, A. J., Hess, F.L., Smith, P.S., and Brooks, A.H., 1908, The gold placers of parts of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, including the Nome, Council, Kougarok, Port Clarence, and Goodhope precincts: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 328, 343 p.

Reference (Deposit): Moffit, F.H., 1913, Geology of the Nome and Grand Central quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 533, 140 p.

Reference (Deposit): Hummel, C.L., 1962, Preliminary geologic map of the Nome C-1 quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-247, 1 sheet, scale 1:63,360.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1972, Metallic mineral resources map of the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-463, 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000.

Reference (Deposit): Till, A.B., and Dumoulin, J.A, 1994, Geology of Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island, in Plafker, G., and Berg, H.C., eds., The Geology of Alaska: Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, DNAG, v. G-1, p. 141-152.

Reference (Deposit): Cobb, E.H., 1978, Summary of references to mineral occurrences (other than mineral fuels and construction materials) in the Nome quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 78-93, 213 p.

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